New Keynote remote feature lets you control slideshows on other devices

iWork for iCloud beta

New “view only” setting lets you share documents you want others to view, but not edit

Updated design in document editor

Open documents directly from iCloud Mail

Additional enhancements include the capacity to edit charts in imported documents; new templates; animations and transitions; improved text wrap; and Excel spreadsheet headers and footers that are now preserved on import.

Last time we explored collaboration in iWork we saw limitations. These continue despite the new "Share as read-only" option that lets you share work in progress with a wider group while controlling who in that group can edit documents. You still cannot manage user privileges during the collaborative cycle -- all you can do is cease sharing a document and start again.

Apple has addressed the problem that when you shared a document link anyone who got that link could edit your document; now you can password-protect shared documents.

You can now see which of your collaborators are currently in a document and watch changes being applied in real time.

We still don't enjoy version control or change tracking within the iWork suite, but it's clear the suite already recognizes when changes take place in order to share such changes between collaborators.

The capacity to delete, duplicate and reorder sections in Page Navigator

Improved instant Alpha image editing

Support for date, time and duration values in charts

Motion blur for animations in Keynote

While not all improvements are available across all the platforms (OS, iOS, iCloud), the result is the suite has become easier to use, more flexible and more reliable than before.

Conclusion

Apple faced criticism when it introduced the current versions of iWork. In response, it promised frequent updates and feature additions. Since then, it has introduced three major and several minor updates.

iWork is now a credible cross-platform productivity suite that meets the needs of most users while being increasingly compatible with Microsoft Office and better (and more secure) to use than Google Docs. At the price (free) you'd be foolish not to install iWork on all your Apple devices. For many, iWork is the only productivity solution you'll ever need, while for more serious users, iWork is becoming the perfect Office companion for productivity in a multi-platform, multi-device world.